With
Saturday's 7-1 shellacking by Buffalo in the rear view mirror, the Sharks got
back to winning on Tuesday night with a solid 60 minute effort at home, winning
easily over the Minnesota Wild. Steve Bernier scored a pair of 2nd period goals
and Evgeni Nabokov turned aside 36 of 37 shots to pace the Sharks to a 4-1 at
HP Pavilion. Attention to defensive details allowed the Sharks to put a
strangle hold on the offensively challenged Wild throughout the contest. San
Jose then capitalized on several opportunities in the offensive end to coast to
their 5th home victory of the season.

Eager to set the offensive
tempo, San Jose got on the board early, with Joe Pavelski's 6th goal of the
season just 2:39 into the game. Craig Rivet setup the goal with a shot that
kicked off Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom, after the Sharks defenseman
pinched in from the point. Rivet drew Backstrom out of the net to take away the
angle, the bounced a shot that ended up on Pavelski's stick in the slot. All
Pavelski had to do was deposit the rebound in the empty net.

Mike
Grier would add his 5th of the season at 4:17 of the 2nd period, on a feed from
Torrey Mitchell. Mitchell took a pass from Patrick Rissmiller on the fly as he
gained the Minnesota zone, the raced up the right wing boards. A Minnesota
defender cut off Mitchell's line, so the rookie forward circled back toward the
blueline, before finding Grier in the high slot. Grier one-timed the pass past
Backstrom for the 2-0 Sharks lead.

Bernier would bag the first of his
pair 4 minutes later on a fortuitous bounce off Backstrom. The Sharks winger
worked the puck behind the Wild net with Marcel Goc, then tried to circle
around to the front of the net, and setup Goc who was parked just outside the
left post. Bernier's pass pin-balled off Backstrom, right back to the Sharks
winger, who then deposited it for his 6th goal of the season.

Goc was
making his return to the ice after missing the last 12 games with a back
injury.

Bernier would cash in again at the 13:17 mark, after
Brent Burns was sent off for slashing. Once again, Bernier was in the right
place, at the right time. Pavelski worked the puck down low after taking a feed
from Patrick Marelau, then tried stuffing it past Backstrom, but the Wild
goaltender managed to close the goal mouth by pinning his skate against the
left post. Bernier swooped in after Pavelski failed to push it past Backstrom
and punched the puck home for the 4-0 lead.

Nabokov's night was
relatively routine, even though he faced a large number of shots. Many of those
were of the perimeter variety that rarely threatened the Sharks netminder.
Aaron Voros came close to solving Nabokov with 2 minutes to play in the period
on a breakaway that the Sharks goaltender stuffed with a sliding save.

Voros would take his frustrations out on Kyle McLaren midway through the final
period, when the two squared off with some fisticuffs. Todd Fedoruk and Alexei
Semanov would partake in their own fight less than a minute later.

Only a power play goal by Branko Radivojevic would blemish Nabokov's
performance. Radivojevic converted just 6 seconds after Rissmiller was sent to
the penalty box for interference midway through the 3rd period, chipping in a
deflection from the left dot.

The closest Minnesota would come to
scoring after that was a Marion gaborik shot that clanked off the post on a
late power play that San Jose would eventually repel.

Game Notes:

Jonathan Cheechoo and Jeremy Roenick were both scratched because of
injuries. Cheechoo tweeked his groin in the loss to Buffalo on Saturday.
McLaren joined Goc back in the lineup after attending his grandmother's
funeral.

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